20th century art
by female artists
A curated Multiple Asset Project by Rubey,
co-initiated with KMSKA
HERstory is a curated Multiple Asset Project
by Rubey, co‑initiated with
the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA).
It gives female artists their rightful place
in the museum narrative, and invites you to co‑own
the journey through a dedicated fund focused on museum‑grade 20th century art.
At the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, only 47 out of more than 5.000 artworks
in the collection are by female artists –
less than 1%.
This imbalance mirrors the situation in many major museums worldwide, where women remain marginally represented on the walls despite their role in shaping every major 20th‑century movement.
Budget constraints make it difficult for public museums to correct historic acquisition patterns on their own.
HERstory is designed as a catalyst: it enables the museum to diversify its collection through long‑term loans, without drawing on public funds.
The Historical Context
For much of modern history, women faced structural barriers: limited legal rights, no access to academies, and strong social pressure into domestic roles. In that context, the canon of “great artists” was written, collected and curated largely by men, who often overlooked or excluded women from their narratives.
Since the 1970s, art‑historical research and exhibitions have demonstrated that women were always present – and often pioneering – across impressionism, modernism, abstraction, surrealism and feminist art. Recent publications on Belgian and international women artists provide the knowledge base on which HERstory builds, translating scholarship into concrete acquisitions and public visibility.
Why were
women artists
invisible?*
*Insights from Art Historian Christiane Struyven.
Discover the book online at Lannoo Publishers
The answer wasn't talent. It was barriers.
Three
Structural Barriers
-
Women were pressured into marriage, motherhood, domesticity.
Legal codes (Napoleonic Code 1805) classified married women alongside "children and the feeble-minded", without legal rights.
→ Women had NO ACCESS to art academies.
→ Women could not sign contracts independently.
→ Women could not legally own property. -
Art history was written by five "male art popes" (1900–1980):
1. Alfred H. Barr Jr.
2. E.H. Gombrich
3. H.W. Janson
4. Herbert Read
5. Pierre Restany
These men decided what was "significant" and what wasn't. Women artists were erased from their narratives. -
Since 1971, feminist scholars and curators have documented the truth:
Women WERE great artists all along.
The Representation
Gap in Museums
At KMSKA: Only 47 of 5.000+ artworks are by female artist.
→That's less than 1%.
01
Across European museums: Less than 5% of artworks
on view are by women.
Yet: Women shaped every major 20th-century art movement.
→Impressionism
→Modernism
→Abstraction
→Surrealism
02
The Market is Correcting:
Female artists appreciated +72,9% between 2012 an 2018,
while Male artists appreciated only +8,3% during the same period.
03
The Question:
Why does half our population appear in less than 1% of museum collections?
04
The HERstory Solution
→ What You Own → How It Works → Why It Matters
-
HERstory is a multiple‑asset investment fund dedicated exclusively to museum‑worthy artworks by female artists working in the 20th century, from Belgium and abroad.
The fund seeks to build a balanced collection that combines art‑historical significance, institutional relevance and long‑term market potential.All acquired works are placed on long‑term loan to KMSKA, ensuring public exhibition, research and conservation in one of Europe’s leading museums. In this way, HERstory makes museum‑grade art by women accessible to investors while helping the museum correct a structural underrepresentation.
-
HERstory is built on a clear division of roles between three partners. Rubey acts as fund manager, responsible for the investment structure, investor relations and financial governance.
KMSKA, led by its Head of Collections, acts as artistic curator and exhibition partner, setting the curatorial framework, selecting works in line with the museum’s collection policy and exhibiting them long‑term.Investors become co‑owners of the collection: they provide capital, gain fractional ownership in museum‑grade artworks, and contribute to a tangible cultural shift in how female artists are represented.
-
Every acquisition in HERstory must pass a dual validation process: one curatorial, one financial, before it can enter the portfolio.
First, KMSKA’s curatorial team identifies and evaluates potential works by female artists for their art‑historical significance, relevance to the museum’s collection, authenticity, condition and long‑term exhibition potential.
Second, Rubey’s Art & Program Management verifies provenance and ownership, assesses pricing using market data and independent appraisals, and checks the legal and financial compliance of the transaction.Only when both sides independently reach a positive conclusion is a work approved. A joint GO / NO‑GO decision. No single party can push an acquisition through on its own, which safeguards cultural quality and aligns the interests of the museum and investors.
Three pillars. One shared vision
Rubey
Fund Manager
✓ Capital management
✓ Legal structure
✓ Investor relations
→ Financial accountability
You
Co-Owner & Cultural Stakeholder
✓ Fractional ownership (tokenized for transparency)
✓ Shared appreciation in artwork value
✓ Cultural impact measurement
→ Investment + Purpose
KMSKA
Artistic Curator & Exhibition Partner
✓ Curatorial selection
✓ Long-term public display (500.000+ annual visitors)
✓ Provenance enrichment
→ Museum-grade validation
Voices Behind HERstory
"Strengthening the presence of women artists is part of a broader, long-term strategy within KMSKA. We are continuously expanding and rebalancing the collection, and HERstory enables us to accelerate that trajectory through meaningful long-term loans. In this way, we build a more inclusive and future-oriented museum narrative."
Nico Van Hout, Head of Collections, KMSKA
“KMSKA is Belgium’s flagship museum. With that role comes the responsibility to actively shape a more inclusive art history. HERstory strengthens our commitment to structural representation by bringing outstanding works by women artists into meaningful dialogue with our collection. Not as an addition, but as an integral part of how we present art today."
Carmen Willems, General Director, KMSKA
"Women artists were not absent from art history, they were erased from it. The barriers were legal, institutional, and cultural. Now, we have the expertise to find them, authenticate them, and restore them to their rightful place. HERstory can be an important part of restoration."
Christiane Struyven, Art Historian
"HERstory proves that private capital can solve public challenges when aligned with institutional expertise. Investors don't have to choose between returns and impact— HERstory delivers both. We're building wealth while building culture.”
Maarten Van Doorslaer, CEO, Rubey
“What makes HERstory unique is our dual GO / NO‑GO process. Every artwork must independently pass a curatorial review at KMSKA and a financial and compliance review at Rubey; only when both teams agree do we invest, protecting both cultural integrity and investor confidence.”
Jason Poirier dit Caulier, Cultural Capital Advisor, Rubey
Investing in HERstory
Invest with purpose. Build wealth.
HERstory operates through a Belgian simple partnership – a transparent, tax‑efficient structure in which artworks are not treated as financial instruments under Belgian law. The fund is reserved for qualified investors who wish to combine exposure to museum‑grade art with measurable cultural and societal impact, this as a fourth pillar of their wealth.
The minimum investment is €25.000. In return, investors gain fractional ownership in the curated collection of ‘HERstory’, placed on long‑term loan to KMSKA and managed under institutional‑grade governance.
HERstory is a regulated investment product with a defined holding period and risk profile. Rubey prefers to discuss the full structure, scenarios and documentation directly with interested investors.
Fund details
Fund Size: €5 million
Fund Type: Multiple Asset Project
Investment Horizon: 10 years (Y1–Y10)
Minimum Ticket: €25.000
Structure: Belgian Simple Partnership
(tax-efficient, transparent)
Exhibition: Long-term loan to KMSKA
(500.000+ annual visitors)
Articles and reports
CNN: “Why We Pay Less for Art Made by Women”
This article explains how deep-rooted bias, historical exclusion and a male‑dominated system cause art by women to be systematically undervalued compared with equivalent work by men. Drawing on academic research and market data, it shows that the price gap is driven by gender bias rather than quality, while recent record prices – such as Frida Kahlo – prove that this gap can and will be corrected.
Click here for the full article (Nov. 2025)
ARTSCAPE: “A Market in Motion: The Rise of Female Artists”
Artscapy brings together recent figures from UBS and Sotheby’s to show how the share of women artists in the auction and gallery market has grown dramatically in the past few years. The article highlights that both total sales and resale returns for women artists are rising faster than for their male peers, with younger generations of collectors playing a key role in accelerating this shift.
Click here for the full article (Oct. 2025)
Sotheby’s Insight Report 2025: “Women Artists at Auction”
The Sotheby’s Insight Report 2025 documents the rapid growth of women artists in the global auction segment: their share of total sales value has more than doubled since 2018, and the number of women appearing in major auctions has increased by over 130%. At the same time, the report underlines that there is still a substantial gap to parity, which is precisely what creates further upside potential in the valuation of their work.
Click here for the full article (2025)
HERstory launch
HERstory was introduced in October 2025 at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, during a private evening that brought together the museum team, investors, curators and partners.
More than 120 guests from the art world and the professional investment community gathered in KMSKA’s grand entrance hall, surrounded by Old Masters that still largely reflect a male‑dominated history.
The launch coincided with a dedicated exhibition of Marthe Donas, a pioneering Belgian woman artist whose modernist work anticipates many of the questions HERstory seeks to address.
It was the ideal moment – and the ideal setting – to signal a new chapter: womenartists moving from the margins of the story to the centre of the museum narrative.
“This event demonstrated that there is real appetite
—in the art world and investment community—
for cultural correction backed by solid financial
and institutional fundamentals.”
Quote by Maarten Van Doorslaer, CEO Rubey
Join our journey
Request the HERstory information
Fill in this form and get in touch with the Rubey team for more information about the Multiple Asset Project HERstory.
